"ROADS? Where We're Going, We Don't Need Roads."

GREAT SCOTT! ...

Last week was all about embracing the process. Where you come away from the first class or first attempt of something and thought, that was REALLY hard. But instead of throwing in the towel, use it to wipe your sweat and try again. It's not just the first draft, but all the several messy attempts that gets you to your goal. Even when we think we're good enough, OR not good enough, and start packing up because it's "not for you" - you wake up and do it again. It's the piles of head slapping mistakes and exhaustive repetitiveness that truly make us a master of our craft.

I can feel as a culture our patience for process is becoming thinner and need for results is becoming more instant. Where a ride home from almost anywhere, a ticket to a sold out concert, a head shot with face fillers, any intensive writing, painting, research, is all at our fingertips. One fingertip really, hitting one button. It doesn't matter how weak and watered downed it is, our expectation for instant gratification is becoming more instant. The product is becoming more processed, SEO filtered, Frankenstein'ed together. Our ability to fully learn and master a craft is becoming short-handed, as robots become more knowledgable and depended on.

I'll step down from my soap box now, this topic is so crucial to me as a strength trainer, VFX artist, and especially as a parent. Watching this little creative human, with a hyper-colored imagination, reminds me everyday how important an unfiltered process is. This morning she waived me away when I asked her to come eat her breakfast because she was still in a "meeting" with her imaginary friends. Which has me both needing to keep her sass in check but also protective of this hysterical brain. I want to keep that brilliant driver driving. Not swayed by

social media, or hijacked by that small flashy device that zaps original thought. Speaking with designer friends and parents, we all have similar concerns. Our family watched a classic film recently that had a character that shows what not giving up looks like. Staying committed to a process. In his case moving forward wasn't the goal, it was moving in all the directions. It wasn't just about getting to a certain place but a certain time.

Our family movie picks have to fit a sweet spot of needing some sort of magic in it, can't be too scary or over-complicated, good music, good messaging, and most importantly doesn't suck. So yeh, Back To The Future. I was a little worried since our 6 year old is still trying to grasp traditional forward moving time, it might be hard to comprehend moving backwards in time. Somehow though she did it. According to Noemie everything in history happened in the 80's, even the dinosaurs. What I loved most was how much she gravitated towards Doc. Specifically Marty's relationship with Doc.

Makes sense since a lot of her favorite family friends are eccentric older creatives, who never talk to Noemie like a less capable kid. She's a partner-in-crime whose opinion and ideas are validated and celebrated. So she loved the inventor - and the way he trusted Marty. Michal and I were were just giddy watching the whole thing, the no nonsense pacing that comes with most 80's films. The character development and perfectly timed writing, just flawless. So this film we introduced about a high schooler and his old crazy genius friend traveling back to the "80's" made perfect sense to her ... until I totally forgot about a scene. Shortly after Doc introduces his time traveling DeLorean, he gets killed! Shot by a van of Libyans because he stole plutonium from them to operate his time machine. His reasoning being they were using it build a bomb so he gave them a box full of pinball pieces in exchange (maybe too violent for the girl but at this point too late. It already happened). Luckily the Huey Lewis soundtrack and Marty's bravery jumping into the DeLorean kept her at bay. Marty went back to a time before Doc came up with the time traveling machine. Even though the art department didn't really push boundaries on Doc, he looked exactly the same as he did 30 years later, we were still riveted. Marty explained to Doc what his future holds, his time machine concept will not only happen but it's how he got there.

"I finally invented something that works!"

~ Doc

I love that Doc in every scene, no matter what period of life he is in, he is swimming in a garage of failed inventions. In both the present and past, his peers completely disregarded and judged him. However it never seems to slow him down or keep him from trying again, and again, and again. Still optimistic and almost frantically obsessed with the process. A big point Doc brought up to Marty is he can not intervene with history. Not even the "mistakes" that happened. If he went to try to fix them, or prevented necessary tragedies, the eventual good outcomes wouldn't happen either. If his dad doesn't get hit by a car, his parents wouldn't meet, so Marty wouldn't even exist! As we all know this becomes the main plot of the movie, Marty trying to keep the timeline intact, but also his existence on the wrong side of time continuum makes him an unavoidable wrecking ball in the timeline.

This week I am going to challenge you with more inventive flows, unassuming paces, and tap into your reserve tank a little. Let's continue being curious and courageous in our process. We'll make mistakes and do it wrong but try again. Undeterred and unphased like Dr. Emmet Brown. Just like the DeLorean, I will push your stamina and redirect muscles patterns into new roads. We will still hang, suspend, and play on the equipment, but also compare it to a stripped down mat workout. Discover our own body strength. When you play with taking away the supports, this is usually when our quirky habits are revealed and the gaps in our process becomes very clear. We will repatch and strengthen these weak spots. Know that if it doesn't happen today, it will get us closer to it happening next time.

Big shout out to my newer folks who did AMAZING on their first ever Pilatecising class, OR first class in a long time which can be even harder. Just keep showing up. Let's not let our fears or impatience stop us short. Take those big risks, yes, but then see them through and give them many chances. It's momentum built, it's not an instant result. Again Doc said it best, "If my calculations are correct when this baby hits 88 miles per hour, you're gonna see some serious shit."

Excited to make your bodies sweat, smile, and let the process fuel us, not the results. That is our natural plutonium.

XO!

Celeste